Hope

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Hope is inherent in us.  When we fail at something, we hope that we can rise above our mistake or limitation.  We can’t just give up and become defeated.  Hope in something unseen or unknown is different.  Trepidation and doubt almost always crawls in the deepest fibers of our being when we can’t physically experience the very thing we want to see and touch … the resurrection of the holy one who came and gave His life, for instance.  “Blessed are those, who in spite of lacking evidence, did and do believe in Him who suffered, died and rose again for humankind’s redemption,” the holy scriptures declare.  There is something profound in this statement, but without true faith, hope in transcendent love could never be a blessing!  We continue to be baffled by the Easter experience, yet many of us do hope that the resurrection of Christ, the savior, did happen and because He lives, we can face an unknown tomorrow!

Deviations

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Unless you make it a point to choose unbridled agreement and to be utterly compliant over limited or great issues with folks in your household, discord of all sorts and varied timing will find its presence.  You can’t help that it finds its way between and among individuals sharing one roof.  I like all kinds of food and welcome even exotic and rare tastes, for instance.  When a certain food item, however, would hurt my health and well-being, you are right guessing that I will refuse to partake of it!  I am almost generously liberal with ideas that come and get shared with people I live with and with those who happen to just pop in or have actually called in to visit and stay.  When anyone totally disrespects my opinion on a conversational subject, though, you are downright sure that I would let that someone know his or her disrespect would not be tolerated!  A gathering of individuals is just that – a circle for differences of choices, thoughts, and decisions requiring an open listening, and thoughtful consideration. 

Perfection

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Kitchen counters: CLEAR!  Tables and desks: CLEAR!  Beds: well-made.  Furniture pieces: all in their places for comfort and function.  Soiled clothes:  all in the hamper. Closets: all clothes sorted and hanging.  Shelves: all filled with items only for which they are intended to hold.  Everything is in its place and at the ready to serve its purpose.  Nothing else beats an efficiently organized home.  “In your dreams!” roars a mocking voice.  I concur!

Blades of Grass

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As soon as spring season starts over, it is easy to spot all kinds of green sprouting from the ground.  Every fallen seed that gets renewed by the rain and warmed by the sun anywhere is ready to stretch and to wake up.  Wild or tame blades of grass are likely to spring, and with no particular timing, they do just that.  They stretch and overreach until someone decides they’re tall enough and must get cut, like it or not!  Grass doesn’t get as much attention until it is freshly cut, but once its height is seamlessly reduced, sliced and slashed, it brings a perfect sight to behold.  Best of all, it yields an aroma so hypnotizing and wonderfully pleasant.  You almost are drawn to take in its fresh smell and glue it all to your nostrils or hide it underneath your pillow for a cozy nap and a peaceful spring night’s sleep!

Discovery

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Just a few more feet of height would have qualified me for a dream-fulfilled fashion model’s or flight stewardess’s careers.  If my legs were taller and my feet in better shape, my gait and perspective of the horizon and everything else my eyes could see would be much more expansive.  A lackluster predicament governed my head’s locks as well.  It always had a dry, wavy story to tell, but I’d like it to have been straighter.  No matter what I did, it never assumed the quality of ‘well-cared crown of glory’.  My arms give me no comfort at all.  They are short, and they never have allowed me to reach up as high or as far for anything I wanted to grasp.  Fat and bulgy, almost swollen-looking hands are at the end of my short arms.  What’s worse, they are cursed by ugly-looking fingernails that would never stay as pretty and pampered as other girls’ naturally or artificially healthy and well-manicured nails.  I look in the mirror and I am reminded of an aunt who ran her hand down from my forehead to my mouth and bypassing the bump of my nose.  She mockingly asked where my nose was, and all those around us would burst into a crude laughter!  True, my nose doesn’t have the height of other girls’ or boys’ noses.  I do not have a head-turning physical endowment.  As a matter of fact, I am simply ‘plain Jane’ through and through.  Looking grand on the outside used to be a great deal of concern.  One day though, I discovered I had so many other special gifts and talents inside me that made me so very beautiful like a swan!

Patience

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Whether you are simply anticipating for an event to take place, a decision to come about or a goal to be fulfilled, your utmost patience is required.  A flowering plant does not rise quickly.   A fruit-bearing tree does not shoot up in a day.  Both test your many days and months of tilling, watering, pruning, and cultivating.  The same is true with child-rearing.  Many sleepless nights ensuring the security and safety of a baby must take place.  A baby must learn to turn over and then crawl before it could attempt to stand.  Its growth into a toddler, a child, and then into a mature young adult takes many years of emotional and physical sacrifices, and unconditional love.  For a piece of art to unfold, an artist must toil and wait for moments of combined inspiration, visualization and skill to create and give birth to her or his handwork.  An almost perfectly beautiful laid out tile on a wall, for example, could never ever be mechanical work.  The skilled tile worker works with his wits and artistic gift so that he may complete symmetrical and well-fitting pieces of tiles.  Without patience, there’s no beholding of a completed project of heart and mind!

Against

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          You could push open a door as hard as you want, but it would not yield unless you rethink what you’re doing.  All it requires is for you to pull the door’s knob, not push it.  You can turn on a wheel by doing a clockwise motion, not counterclockwise.  You can repeal a law with which you do not agree, but imposing an unpopular one would bring much resistance.  Life is so much easier if we did not go against the grain, per se.  However, who thinks unfolding life is without stumps?  Going against anything … an important decision, a simple task, a thought by someone has to have merits of sort.  Examining fact and virtue of an idea or mission that goes one way or the other is always much even better not only for peace of mind, but also serenity of the spirit!   

Fences

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There are not many concepts about which I cannot and will not make a stand.  With fences, however, I straddle.  Fences that are six feet high or more are not so neighborly.  They scream, “Keep out!”  Tall, fences, those made of concrete cement blocks and solid wood, are the worst.  They seem to hide something sinister or they selfishly brandish, “private property”.  One reason to dislike these types of fences is that they block viewing the great landscape of verdant green meadows.  Another reason to dislike them is their unfriendly impact on the psyche.  They make the mind concoct deceptive and forbidden activities.  I understand fences’ necessity and presence.  After all, I have fencing in my backyard so that my dogs are able to play and run freely for exercise.  They also protect my dogs from attacking intruders.  I understand fences’ purpose to designate and identify property borders.  I understand decorative fences that welcome neighbors and friends.  Still, I don’t like them because they divide up lands that certainly could lead to paths of endless friendship, exploration, and travel!

Angst

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Unease of the heart, (mind?) … comes and goes.  Nothing seems to stop it.  Not even a believer’s faith promise could hold it.  Why does the mind/heart fret over the littlest of instances?  Could it be in fear always of consequences that quiet indecisions and noisy actions take? 

I couldn’t justify worrying.  I couldn’t defend distressing.  It is always there in the back of my mind, and at the center of my heart.  It is deeply embedded in the smallest fiber of my being.  It cozily resides and lulls itself in the innermost recesses of my soul, and pulls it out just in time for that one brewing tiny or huge event’s resolve to unfold. 

Uggghhhh!

Keepers

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Intentionally or accidentally, neighbors do visit with neighbors.  From such visitations, relationships bud and sometimes positively blossom. Though such relationships sometimes get sealed, commitments or involvements of any types do not oftentimes become seriously deep.  That though is what appears on the surface.  Watch and wait for neighborliness to really unfold.  If something truly “neighborly” were meant to happen, that something would!  How does one act upon a neighbor’s uncovered survival need, a life-threatening situation, a life-changing circumstance?  Two reactions: either one responds or ignores it.   We can even debate for long the question, “Are we our neighbors’ keepers?”  Ponder that!